Personally, Danica Patrick is NOT ready for NASCAR. It's not going to stop her from at least trying. Earlier today, the much talked about Danica deal with NASCAR became official at of all places, Phoenix's Chase Field, where Danica signed a two-year contract with JR Motorsports, a team co-owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s sister Kelley and Rick Hendrick. They also showed off the #7 GoDaddy.com Chevy that Danica will be driving in the Nationwide Series at the 40 minute press conference. It's believed that Ms. Patrick will drive a very limited schedule in NASCAR's secondary series, but will also race in the ARCA Series to get her more accustomed to racing in a stock car. Tony Eury, Jr., Dale Jr.'s crew chief fired by owner Rick Hendrick this past Sprint Cup season due in large part to the struggles of the #88 team, will hold a similar role with Danica's new team in the Nationwide Series.

The plan is to have Danica take part in an ARCA test run December 18-20 at Daytona International Speedway, and she will make her stockcar debut February 6, 2010 in the ARCA race at the famous speedway, one day before Danica debuts a new GoDaddy.com commercial during CBS Sports' coverage of Super Bowl XLIV in Miami February 7th. The popular Web site will sponsor Danica in the races she runs, regardless of series.

It's believed that Danica's Nationwide races will be bookended around her IRL schedule. The 2010 IRL season begins March 14th in Brazil and concludes October 2nd at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The IRL star announced last week that she'll continue to drive the #7 car for Michael Andretti under the newly reorganized Andretti Autosport. She finished 5th in IRL points this past season, but has STILL WON ONLY 1 RACE in her career. More details on Danica's Nationwide & ARCA schedule will be announced soon.

What SHARK said, summed up in 4 words:

This should be good.

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I give her credit for leaving her comfort zone and venturing into another form of racing that some of her more accomplished peers have and continue to struggle. She'll need a lot of time and patience to succed in NASCAR

Shark,

I'm curious as to why you feel she isn't ready when Montoya jumped across with limited and somewhat sustained success?

Granted Montoya was more successful than Danica has been in IRL (understatement), but what do you base this opinion on?

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Does your cat make too much noise? Try KITTEN MITTENS!


Charlie: Oh shit. Look at that door dude. See that door right there? That door marked 'Pirate'? You think a pirate lives in there?
Dennis: I see a door marked 'Private.'

Very appropraite name for posting about Nascar, Whitey...

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I think Montoya is a better driver and it still took him a good 1-1/2 to 2 years to be competitive and that was going at it full-time. At least she's doing it right starting with ARCA and Nationwide races.

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You know me like that.

Ok I haven't flexed my Nascar muscle in quite some time, so I wasn't sure if this was just a knock on Danica or whether she legitimately needed time to learn the circuit.

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Does your cat make too much noise? Try KITTEN MITTENS!


Charlie: Oh shit. Look at that door dude. See that door right there? That door marked 'Pirate'? You think a pirate lives in there?
Dennis: I see a door marked 'Private.'

Montoya is one of the most talented human beings on the planet at making hot laps in anger.

Danica will struggle with the physical toll of these cars....

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

this. will. be. hilarious.

Predicting a 34 car pileup in the first Nationwide race.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

She was pretty good today. I'm sure she's racing next weekend.

But she got moved off the track, controlled the car, it was a pretty awesome in-cabin camera shot of her working the wheel too. Came back from 25th up to 5th after the spinout.

Pretty impressive first time out.

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You know me like that.

Shes an average driver.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

Maybe.

But she was better than the average guy/gal on that track today. And considering that's her first time out, she did better than I would have thought.

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No way you can make that judgement after one race in NASCAR. Maybe she will be average, but it is way too early to tell. This is a whole new ballgame for her.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

She made a pretty awesome move to the inside line to make up about 4 spots in the race today. I don't care who she is, that was pretty cool.

Also, I'll defer to Waltrip in how she handled the spinout. He was impressed with her hands on that spin. It looked pretty good.

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Exactly. She was an average Indy Car driver so until she proves otherwise, shes middle of the pack. Danica has way more money & resources than any other ARCA team so she should do ok there. That was a nice save today though.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

No, not exactly. Her experience in Indy Car matters not right now. You cannot judge her as a NASCAR driver until she has some races under her belt.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

She'll do ok in ARCA, but until she can be competetive & win races, shes just another driver. Much like Tim Tebow, her talent doesnt match the hype.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

Agree - Juan Montoya was a dominant Indy driver, yet struggled until last year, yet didn't win a race last year. On the other hand, Tony Stewart was an "average" Indy car driver, and while his career is not over, I think he may be recognized as at least "ok" as a NASCAR driver.

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Yeah he might be alright by the end of his career.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I am still trying to figure out if you are from Illinois, right now it is lingo!!

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

I'm from Illinois but I had a "crick" in my backyard. Does that do anything for my "cred"?

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, you are perfectly fine. Especially since you and Spanky are curling experts. People think Nascar is bad

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

I'm catering to a bunch of different classes and genres. Cut me some slack.

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Montoya is going to be a beast in nascar. I used to hate the guy based on a few on track incidents during his first year. Now after he has logged some miles, he drives a mean car and is cool as all hell in interviews. He isnt some corporate douche like Mikey W.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

I think another "average" driver with big sponsorship appeal is driving the 88 car. I don't hear a lot of scrutinizing of his driving ability. Outside of the restrictor plate tracks his driving is fairly ordinary considering the backing and teams he has been on.

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

You have a strange definition of average, when a guy with 18 wins in the Sprint Cup series which is more than a lot of pretty good drivers. I do not think it is fair at all to bring up his name in a conversation regardling Danica. Like him or not, Junior has accomplished quite a bit so far in his career. If Danica accomplishes as much as he has so far, she will have had a pretty nice run.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

That's why i put it in quotation marks. I'm not going to say he's a bad driver, or even necessarily overrated. I don't think people who look at the technical aspects of NASCAR really consider him to be one of the best of his era. So in that sense he is rated properly. I just brought it up as a point of comparison to Danica because it's unlikely either one's track record will exceed their level of attention and exposure.

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

id much rather see danica patrick bent over a guard rail in an accident then i would for sexy reasons

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

he's still a pro driver though, he races a lot more then just nascar too. people dont like to talk about how he's not as amazing as his dad, and why should they? most just like jr because they liked his dad, and dale jr doesnt give us any reason not to like him. he's a class act, very good driver, and seemingly a better man then his father.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

Watching Danica on Trackside on Speed. I don't care. I like her.

I don't think she's particularly good-looking (she's alright) but I like her attitude and approach.

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You know me like that.